Jesus is applying the term “hypocrite” to the religious zealot who makes a show of his religion and his prayer. But He is not condemning the person, only the practice. It is not often that this practice is a conscious attempt to show off. Because his religion has been given to him “custom-made,” the individual may know no other way. Men of all times have deluded themselves with the belief that outward acts which seem to be easy can be made to take the place of interior changes in thought and feeling which seem to be more difficult. How easy it is to fall into the practice of buying and wearing
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